


Meals and Misunderstandings

by RogueCompanion



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dare, F/M, Or not, Poe's ballsy as shit, Poor Sad Rey, Stood Up, dinner date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 13:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15707838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueCompanion/pseuds/RogueCompanion
Summary: Rey waits for a date that was never going to come, Poe's a stand up guy, but things aren't always what they seem...





	Meals and Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

> My brain wouldn't let me finish Chapter two of Along the Way until I got this one down. I basically wrote this story in my head while driving home from California, this is how I kept myself awake. Its a combination of two similar but different ideas. The first an "Imagine your OTP" prompt from a Tumblr that is no longer in use and the other is an article I read awhile back, both are linked at the end of the story. I also made my first attempt at a moodboard. Hope you enjoy!

[](https://imgur.com/GzmFZbM)

“Table for two,” Rey said flashing a winning smile at the bored looking hostess. She hoped that in her anticipation she didn’t look like a crazy person, just like someone looking forward to an anticipated dinner date. 

The teenaged hostess clearly couldn’t have cared less, wordlessly leading her to a table, obviously eager to get back to not so covertly texting behind the safety of the wooden stand. 

“My, um, friend? Will be joining me shortly. Could you please point him in my direction when he arrives?” Rey asked, some nerves leaking through. 

“Yup,” the girl didn’t wait for anything more before turning and walking away. Clearly, unconcerned with needing any details about the person Rey was meeting. 

Rey sat herself strategically in the booth she’d been directed to so that she had a fairly good view of the door and the restaurant as a whole. This way, even if the hostess wasn’t paying attention she’d see her companion arrive. 

A cute looking waitress, about the same age as her, approached the table with a smile on her face. “Good Evening, my name is Jessica and I’m going to be taking care of you this evening. I see you’re waiting on someone, can I take your drink order while you wait?”

Rey smiled back politely and said, “actually, if we could just get a couple of waters here for now? He should be here really soon.” The waitress nodded, said she’d be back shortly, and left. 

A nervous bubble began to form in the pit of Rey’s stomach, she’d never done anything like this and was hoping she could pull it off. To tamper down some of that energy, she pulled out her phone and began playing around on it, looking towards the door every time she heard it being pulled open. The waters were gently placed on the table and the waitress moved on. Rey shot off a quick text and went back to her sudoku game. 

Several minutes passed and the waitress returned to her table. “I’ll go ahead and refill your water. Would you like to order any appetizers or anything while you wait?” She grabbed Rey’s almost empty water cup from in front of her and waited for Rey to respond. 

“No, thank you, I’m sure he’ll be here any moment.”

The waitress walked away and Rey resumed looking at her phone. She sighed and dialed a familiar number. The phone rang through to voicemail, “Hey, it’s me. I just wanted to let you know that I’m here, I got us a table. Just to be sure we said the one off of Walker Rd, right? That’s what your text said. Well anyways, I hope I got the right one and I’ll see you soon.” she hung up the phone as the waitress placed the water glass back in front of her. She smiled gratefully and thanked her. 

Rey caught the waitresses uncertain look as she turned away. Apparently, she’d overheard that voicemail. She shifted uncomfortably and looked around her, noticing some of the other patrons also shooting her sad looks. She gave an awkward smile to the table nearest to her and went back to her phone. 

Another 15 minutes passed and Rey set her phone aside and focused her attention solely on the door. She drank all of the water in front of her and then reached over and grabbed the one across from her. She noticed some of the staff whispering and glancing her way, she was sure she looked utterly pathetic. 

The waitress returned with a pitcher of water this time to refill both glasses . “You sure you don’t want to order anything while you wait? I can bring you some chips and salsa.” 

“No, I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” Rey insisted, her face shifting, beginning to look like not even she believed what she was saying. The waitress gave her a sympathetic look and moved on. 

Rey picked up her phone and dialed. Voicemail again. “Hey, it’s me again. I hope you’re ok. I’ve been here about an hour now. Just wondering where you are.” 

As she hung up this time she noticed her waitress rushing past her, as if she didn’t want to have to deal with sad girl who’s obviously been stood up. At this point she began to notice other staff members walking slowly past her table, coming to see the spectacle, she assumed. 

After the table next to her had been cleaned and re-seated, the previous occupants giving her truly piteous looks as they walked out, she decided it was time to give in.

She flagged down the waitress as she passed by again, sighing she looked at the woman her eyes a tad glassy, “I don’t think he’s coming, I guess I’ll go ahead and order.” But as she finished saying this someone sank into the seat across from her. 

“I’m so sorry I’m late sweetheart! I had issues getting out of work and then traffic was terrible. Can you forgive me for keeping you waiting so long?” The attractive dark haired man across from her said passionately while slyly giving her a wink. 

It took several moments for her brain to catch up with what was happening. “Oh. Um, I tried calling? You didn’t answer, I was about to give up on you.” She hoped her recovery was believable, glancing between the man and the waitress who seemed pleasantly surprised by the new addition to the table. 

“I know, I’m so sorry, I didn’t noticed the charger wasn’t plugged in last night so my phone died halfway through the day.” He smiled at her charmingly. 

“Well, ok, I guess. I’m glad you’re here now. Should we order?” Rey asked. 

He nodded and they both turned to the waitress and placed an order. She gave Rey a secret thumbs up as she grabbed their menus and left to place the orders. 

Rey turned curious eyes to the handsome stranger. 

“Hi, I’m Poe, sorry to intrude here, I just overheard the hostess and one of the other waiters talking about you and couldn’t let you be stood up. I apologize if I’ve overstepped and can absolutely leave right now if you want.” He rushed out in a quiet voice. 

She smiled brightly at him, “wow, I don’t know that anyone’s ever done something so nice for me before. I’d love to share dinner with you.”

Over the next hour and a half they ate and enjoyed each other’s company. He told her about being a pilot in the Air Force and all about his dog, Baby Boy, lovingly referred to as BB. As well as several stories that lead her to believe he was a loyal man, and one who didn’t take himself too seriously. In return she told him that she was a mechanic, telling some of the funnier situations she’s experienced being a female in a mostly male dominated field, and shared with him some of the crazy antics of her best friend Finn. They had quite a bit in common and conversation flowed easily. 

There was a small fight over the check when it was placed on the table by the still grinning waitress. 

“You’re the one who saved me, so I should pay,” she insisted. 

“I’m the one who forced my company onto you. And besides, how is it going to look if I kept you waiting as long as you had been and then you paid for my meal, I’m not that big of an asshole.” He insisted. 

She had to agree that he made a good point, so she allowed it. 

“Well, fine, only if you agree that I get to pay next time,” she conceded and then her words caught up with her, causing a slight panic. “I mean, that is to say, if you actually would maybe want to, get together again at some point. Oh my god, please ignore me!” She was mortified. Her whole face lighting up red in embarrassment.

He laughed at her rambling, “I will not ignore any of that. I’d love to get together again, but we’ll see about the you paying thing.”

She laughed, her face shining with relief. “Sure, we’ll see,” she said and then more quietly under her breath, “that I’m going to pay.”

He huffed a laugh, having caught her quiet act of defiance, as he stood from the table and offered her his arm, which she gratefully took, noticing now that they were standing that there was only a few inches in height difference between them. They headed towards the exit. He offered to walk her to her car and she led the way. 

As they approached her vehicle, she tensed and pulled back a bit. “I have a confession to make. Please don’t judge me too harshly.”

He looked at her concerned and curious. “Hey, you don’t owe me anything.”

“No, I know that,” she stated taking a deep breath, “but still, here goes, I um… I wasn’t actually meeting anyone here tonight. Last week, Finn and I made a drunken bet. We’d been scrolling through Pinterest and had stumbled on this guy’s live tweeting his attempt at getting a free dessert by pretending he got stood up. Finn didn’t think it would actually work, and I thought it would. So he bet me I couldn’t get a whole free meal by trying it out for myself. So, you stepped in to help me under false pretenses. And you were so damn nice! And I’m just sorry you got suckered in to this. I completely understand if you want to take back what you said about seeing me again” releasing a deep breath after hurrying through her confession and nervously looking up at him through her lashes. 

Poe just stood there looking dumbstruck. Then suddenly a broad grin broke out onto his face and he started to laugh. It was one of those deep belly laughs that appears to reverberate through the entire body. Soon enough he was clutching his stomach and wiping tears from the corners of his eyes. She looked at him mouth gaping, this was certainly not the reaction she was expecting. 

“Oh honey! That has got to be the best story I’ve ever heard. Absolutely classic! So, what do you win?” He asked finally catching his breath, the grin splitting his face looking slightly painful for how large it was. 

She smiled looking sheepish, “Finn has to pick up my tab whenever we go out for the next month. However, I’m not sure I technically won. I mean, they didn’t give me my meal for free…”

“Well it really kind of depends on the wording of the bet. Did you specifically say that the restaurant had to comp your meal? Or just that you didn’t have to pay for it. Because you technically did not pay for your meal at all. I did.”

She gasped, her slight smile growing into a large grin. “Holy crap! You’re right! You just won the bet for me! Oh my God! Thank you Poe!” She threw herself at him wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing. He laughed at her excitement and returned her embrace wrapping his arms around her waist. 

She pulled back slowly, still smiling, but looking a little embarrassed. “Sorry for throwing myself at you like that,” she said as she tried to extricate herself from him, but he held tight. 

“Please don’t be sorry. I’m glad you did. I hope that doesn’t sound creepy. I was kind of trying to work up the courage to ask if I could kiss you, but thought that given that we’d just met it might not be appropriate at this juncture.”

She seemed to debate his statement in her head for a moment before apparently coming to a decision. She put her hand on the side of his face and gently turned it. Leaning up on tip toe she gently kissed his slightly stubbled cheek before moving back, out of his arms. “How about, I’ll allow you to return that, after you allow me to take you to dinner this weekend. Meaning, I get to pay.”

He laughed at her suggestion, clearly catching on to her not so subtle plot. “Ok, you got yourself a deal. But don’t think you’re getting away with anything here, I was going to let you pay anyways,” He says though it’s obvious he hadn’t really had any intentions of doing that at all. He pulled her in for another brief hug while pulling his phone from his pocket and handing it to her. 

“I’m sure that was absolutely your plan,” she said as she took his phone and began to dial her own number, hitting the call button and allowing it to ring through to her own and then handing it back. “Well, there we go. Now, I’ve got to go rub Finn’s face in my victory, so I think here’s where we part. Thanks for everything and I look forward to planning out our next date.”

He beamed at her once more, “I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.” She climbed into her car and started it. She watched him stand there, rooted in the same spot, while she pulled out and exited the parking lot. He appeared rooted in place still beaming. As she glanced in her rear view mirror one last time to catch sight of him, she noticed her own large grin matching his. The evening definitely didn’t turn out the way she expected, but she certainly wasn’t going to complain about it. 

Sitting on the seat beside her, her phone chirped alerting her to a new text message. At the next stop light she glanced briefly at the message. She said it back down and felt her heart flutter. The impression of those black words on white background still flashing behind her eyes. 

Good night Beautiful!

**Author's Note:**

> This work is not beta'd so I apologize for any mistakes.
> 
> Tumblr Post:  
> https://pin.it/zcgg2s3uhaneeh
> 
> Article:  
> http://rivergrandrapids.com/man-fakes-being-stood-up-at-restaurant-to-try-to-get-a-free-dessert/


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